Summer Solstice 2024

Spring to summer was pretty busy for us at NYSHN!

Our Edmonton folks stayed on their outreach game, tabling at the Heart of the City Music and Arts Festival and a Métis 2SLGBTQIA+ Gathering. The Metis gathering was hosted by Rupertsland Institute, Edmonton 2 Spirit Society, and Otipemisiwak Métis Government's Youth Department, and our team gave out copies of our Indigenous Youth Affirmation Deck (IYAD), Harm reduction/safer sex supplies, HIV self-tests and sacred medicines like sage, cedar and sweetgrass. Turns out, two spirit youth are made of medicine ;)

two light skinned NYSHN youth leaders are beading at a table covered in outreach materials, including condoms, dildos, menstrual supplies, mental health resources, and stim toys

four smiling NYSHN youth leaders pose behind a table covered in outreach materials, including naloxone kits, condoms, dildos, menstrual supplies, mental and sexual health resources, and stim toys

a closeup of a table covered in outreach materials, including dildos, smudging medicines, mental health resources, naloxone kits, and stim toys

a brown skinned NYSHN youth leader with black lipstick is sitting behind a table holding a pug wearing a rainbow bandanna. the table is covered in outreach materials, including condoms, dildos, menstrual supplies, mental and sexual health resources,

a closeup shot of the inside of a paper bag filled with cedar, sage, condoms, and other outreach supplies

Our Tkaronto team did a workshop for teachers in training from the Waabano program at Wandering Spirit School this spring, learning about consent, all-gender menstrual support, and how to be rad relatives for youth navigating colonial education systems.

A selfie of three light skinned people wearing KN95 masks are smiling and doing peace signs in front of a poster showing how a turtle shell relates to the lunar calendar — From left to right, NYSHN auntie Krysta (she/her) with Tkaronto team members Zephyr (they/them) and Emily (she/they) post-workshop

Out in lkwungen, NYSHN youthleader Emma (they/them) went to hang out with birth workers at Nesting Doula Collective’s Allied Birth Workers Gathering. Em brought the beloved STBBI-Positive crochet’d plushies to table with, as well as NYSHN resources & IYAD to share! We gave out plenty of decks for birth workers to distribute as part of their practices, and loved sitting in to listen to how BIPOC & allied birth workers are implementing reproductive justice for our communities. (Shout out to Trini-Metis doula extraordinaire Simone Blais who co-organized this incredible event! We <3 you and are so proud!!!)

a table covered in printed resources including the Indigenous Youth Affirmation Deck, anatomical genital plushies made of yarn, a speculum, and a QR code linking to the NYSHN website

A closeup of a flyer for the Allied Birth Workers 2024 gathering

A crowd of people standing outside, around a mural on the ground that says "reproductive justice lives here" with art of plants and two hands surrounding a baby

pix from the Allies Birthworkers gathering

Internally-- we launched our wellness fund! Last year Emma & Jamey (they/them) from NYSHN’s Core Team wrote up a proposal to the Sonor Foundation to ask them to fund a project called “Nourishing Indigiqueer Leadership”. Intergenerationally, it’s been a dream at NYSHN to be able to support health & wellbeing costs for youth engaged in Reproductive Justice work in our communities. NYSHN is grown from Indigenous principles of disability justice and access-- our core governance team is entirely made up of disabled ndns at the moment, and for our movements to truly be by/for those of us who are most marginalized, we need to breathe life into these teachings each and every day.

Sonor is giving us money for the next two years to run a pilot “wellness fund” project, and we launched it internally this June to a group of NYSHN youthleaders. It took us a second to launch because we wanted to make sure we were clear about how our ethics and processes around distribution would work-- we ended up prioritizing the privacy & dignity of those making requests, and understanding NYSHN finance firekeeper’s as responsible for the ‘stewarding’ of these funds in alignment with Anishinaabe and WSANEC teachings of resource management. More info to come!

So far, we’ve distributed $16,252 directly to Indigenous youth who have organized with NYSHN within the past year. An additional $476 went towards costs for private/personal insurance plans, to supplement the coverage NIHB/FNHA and federal healthcare (don’t) provide.

Shout out to whichever secret admirer of ours told them to ask us if we would want money, this has been very exciting <3

We’ve also been on our Shipping ish! NYSHN has shipped out 50+ orders of our Indigenous Youth Affirmation Decks since March, and a couple dozen orders of You Are Made of Medicine as well. Every order is mailed out as a side task by NYSHN youthleaders-- from storage lockers, bedrooms, parks, and cafes in lkwungen, edmonton, and tkaronto. We mail free copies to any Indigenous youth who request them, and offer them at sliding scale to community to help cover printing and mailing costs. Request your copy today <3

Orders mailed out in fall 2024 can expect NYSHN stickers, because sometimes Media Arts Justice is about being able to see ourselves in our environments-- even if that’s just the NYSHN sticker you definitely-didn’t-put-on-private-property.

And, last but not least, a selection of only the finest memes from our meeting debriefs this season (we know that’s what you’re really here for :P)

with rage and love,

NYSHN

Spring Equinox 2024